Abel Tesfaye, more commonly recognized as , The Weeknd, has amassed 52 awards by the age of 36-years-old. Recently, after a small break, The Weeknd resumed his world tour “After Hours Till Dawn” extending tour dates and location from the initial North American run hitting a majority of U.S states.

This expansion has been well hoped for. Currently, The Weeknd is traveling throughout Latin America partnered with Larissa de Macedo Machado, commonly known as Anitta.She is a Brazilian female artist, and has collaborated with The Weeknd on his latest album and Anitta has made a guest appearance during the Latin American tour. 

In The Weeknd’s collaboration the song features the city ‘San Paulo’ which had been on their tour cities. But during the show in another city, Rio de Janeiro, they had added a new song to the list. A new and specially written, ‘RIO’, this seems to be a tribute to Anitta and her home town. 

“Let’s do something for Brazil. I know your home town is Rio, so I wanted to do something for your hometown… We did something for San Paulo… let’s do something for Rio,” The Weeknd said according to a tour recording on Instagram. 

With the Latin American tour came new visuals and choreography not only for ‘RIO’ but with other parts of the tour as well. The excitement from the fans of the new song was exhilarating and a definite highlight for all fans around the world, not just in Rio that night. 

XO fans have speculated about the release of new music ,either as an album or individual song, for some time. As of recently, The Weeknd created a spam account, paired with the most recent photoshoot and profile image change on music platforms. Although there was speculation of a new release or change, the XO crew most of them did not expect ‘RIO’.

Also expanding the tour into Europe, The Weeknd joins together once again with Jordan Terrell Carter, also known as Playboi Carti; he has collaborated with the artist on multiple songs over the years. 

Even in all of the new editions in such a short amount of time, The Weeknd chose to make it more inclusive for all of the fans across the world.

The Weekend announced the new and extended Asia tour releasing on March 10 featuring places like Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong in the fall of 2026 shortly after the European tour, featuring Creepy Nuts and ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U. 

The tour has been going on for almost a year now, and many believe it might be the last time that Tesfaye will be touring as The Weeknd. Tesfaye acknowledged he thinks that he is done as ‘The Weeknd’  and that it’s just too easy. When asked about his future plans in 2023, he made it clear of his intentions. 

“I’m getting ready to close The Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd,” as cited in Billboard. 

With this interview a few years back, the anticipation for this being the last of him saddened many fans, but the reluctance of Tesfaye to continue making music is hopeful. 

“The idea of him leaving was scary. I love [The Weeknd’s] music. After he [made this clear] I felt much better,” Mulhall said.

And as someone who went to the North American concert in Sofi Stadium, the experience is worth it. It may be the last time to see The Weeknd live. It is to ‘Die For, You’ should go.